Mission of Survival!
by Copkid
Summary: Six of Konoha's most interesting ninja are sent out on a Mission to the Country of Sand. But something goes terribly wrong and the simple mission turns into one of Survival. [ShikaIno][SakuLee][NaruHina] later on! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! MORE COMING SOON!
1. An unusual Mission, Mission to the Sand!

Author's Notes:

This is my first "Chapter Fanfic" That I have written, I hope you will enjoy and continue reading the new chapters I will be posting soon. c:

I have Chapter 2 done, but I want some construstive reviews so I know what to change in the next Chapter.  
SO CRITCRITCRIT!

--Reg.Writing--  
--(Author's comments)--

I know Its' kinda short, but I promise to submit longer chapters here on out! n.n

N'joy!

* * *

Chapter One— An Unusual Mission, Mission to the Sand!

It was a normal morning in Konoha,

The sun filtered through the open window and onto a bed. The preteen untangled himself from the sheets and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

He peered at himself in the mirror.

A black haired boy with wide eyes, bushy eyebrows and a lean body stared back, and sighed. He looked up hopefully; his hair ruffled from sleep. He slid off his bed and into his usual outfit; a green full piece jump suit and weights under his bright orange leg warmers. He gingerly picked up his forehead protector off of his night stand, and glanced downward at it.

The light shone off the highly polished metal and the dark blue clothe felt cool in his hands. He traced the engraving of a leaf with his finger and grinned.  
He thrust his fist; clenching the headband tightly, into the sun light.

"Lee!"

Just then a pink haired girl flew into Lee's room, the window's curtains fluttering after her. Her breathing was labored and she had one of her hands clutched to her chest.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Lee yelled in surprise and impulsively held out his free hand to help her up, a slight blush creped up his face.

The Kounichi got up; completely engrossed in her thoughts, not noticing his hand, and brushed herself off.

Lee quickly retracted his hand.

Sakura, too busy to notice, began to speak.

"Lee-san, Lady Tsunade needs us now. Please hurry."

And as fast as she came, she left.  
Lightly jumping out of the window, once again leaving only the curtains disturbed behind her. He nodded to the now gone Sakura, and blinked in thought. Then, with no other hesitation, Lee tied the forehead protector around his waist and sprinted out after her.

* * *

When He arrived at the Hokage's office he found 7 pairs of eyes' focused upon him. Lee turned automatically; facing Tsunade, who in response nodded her blond head directly at the nearest seat available. Lee sat down obediently between a still out of breath Sakura and an aggravated Naruto.  
All eight people sat comfortably considering the space available. At the head of the room sat a sturdy wooden desk. Occupying this desk was the village's Hokage. An extremely powerful woman who's bad luck was some-what infamous, and whose breast were larger than a normal child's head. Lazy. A gambler. And yet, she filled the job well.  
Her assistant stood beside the desk; holding a little pink pig, eying the six ninja in training who sat before herself and Lady Tsunade. 

The Hokage lifted her chin ever-so-slightly and straightened the slouch, relaxed posture she had worn only seconds ago. Her eyes narrowed, then she began to speak in a sharp tone, demanding everyones' full attention.

"You six have been specially selected to deliver an important package to the Country of Sand."

Shizune sheepishly bent over Tsunade's shoulder; cutting into Tsunade's speech, whispering:

"You really didn't 'specially' select them did you? The ninja in this room are the only available at the time, right?"

Tsunade grumbled and waved her devious assistant back to standing. The girl chuckled. When the Hokage averted her brown eyes back to the six fifteen year-olds sitting in front of her, the tone she had used was twice as sharp than before she was interrupted.

"This is a 'C' grade mission in which all your specific ability's will have to be used to complete."  
Shizune suppressed a giggle at these words, Tsunade in turn glared maliciously.

Right then, Naruto burst from his seat and stood fuming on his feet.

"WHY DO _I _HAVE TO DO SUCH A STUPID LOW CLASS MISSION?!" Naruto yelled.

The Hokage; already irritated enough snapped back:

"Because these '_stupid' _missions help pay for the incredibly high costs on Ramen we've been having lately." --(She didn't mean this, she just wanted to get back at him, and it actually seems possible in Naruto's case XD)

The blond Ninja blinked, registering the remark, then opened his mouth to shout something obscene in return.

He was cut off by a quite voice coming from next to him.

"N-n..naruto-kun, m-maybe you should c-calm down-n..." Stuttered a young kounichi with silver eyes.

Naruto glanced at Hinata; slumped back into his seat, crossed his arms, and pouted. Sakura shook her pink head and buried it in her hands, her seat seemed to move a couple inches away from Naruto.

"Troublesome" could be heard several times, emitted from a dark haired boy sitting in the corner of the room. He held what looked like a map.  
A blond girl sitting next to him; fists held high, hit the boy mercilessly on the head.

"Oi! Ino! What was that for?" he grumbled.

"Because your just as annoying as Naruto, Shikamaru!"

"..."

Tsunade cleared her throat, and everyone's attention snapped back onto the impatient Hokage.

"I assign you six; Naruto, Sakura, Lee, Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru to this mission. Set out today with at least a week's worth of supplies. That is all, you are dismissed!" Tsunade exclaimed, excited at the idea of Naruto being gone for a week, or possibly longer.

"Hai!" replied all six ninja, bowed quickly and exited the room.

* * *

The teenagers left the room; Tsunade sighed. 

"This may turn out interesting..." She muttered to Shizune.

Her assistant nodded, and chuckled.

It was going to be oh-so-much more than 'interesting' here on out;  
nothing they packed would ever prepare them for what was going to happen on this mission.

---End Chapter One---

* * *

Chapter Note's: 

I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter to this series c:

PLEASE REVIEW!  
I'll post the next chapter after a couple reviews, so get going XD

--Next Chapter: "Pre-Mission Encounters"


	2. PreMission Encounters

**Author's Notes:**

Ahh, It feels good to update XD  
I hope you enjoy the new chapter of my Teenage Survival Series!

--Reg.writing--  
--(Author's comment)--

Please review! I only had one review from my last chapter and I need them to make my pieces better c:

Thank you for reading, and N'joy!

* * *

Chapter Two: --Pre-Mission Encounters--

Six teenagers spilled out from the Hokage's building.

Now outside; Naruto and Sakura were walking home, Naruto still fuming from his encounter with Tsunade.

"She could have at least given us a 'B' ranked mission, that old granny." Naruto complained, childishly cursing under his breath.

He began to kick up dust with every step he took.

"And I don't eat _that _much Ramen...do I?" He continued, arguing with no one in particular.

Sakura; irritated at Naruto's mindless bickering, turned to him,

"If you don't stop complaining Naruto I'll give you a reason to." She said, threateningly holding out her fist directly under his nose.

Her green eye's flashed dangerously.

"Sakura-chaaaaan, you're so cruel" He whimpered, stepping backwards slightly to avoid being beaten.

Sakura let out a snort and mumbled something along the lines of 'annoying' 'baka' 'loud'.  
Naruto hung his head.

At least, he wasn't beaten physically.

He stayed silent until they had to separate paths in order to make it to their house's.  
Naruto lifted his hand pathetically in an attempt to wave goodbye, but Sakura stormed off, her vibrant pink hair whipping out of sight as she turned the corner.

Naruto continued walking down the road until he reached his building.

He made his way to his room, flicked the lights on and sat down on his bed.

"What to pack...?" He muttered to himself.

He trudged over to his closet.

Naruto pulled out his traveling pack from under a pile of clothing, and poured it's contents onto the bed.  
Assorted items spilled onto the sheets from the last mission, and now the bag lay empty and deflated.

Naruto smirked, he knew _exactly _what to pack

* * *

Shikamaru shuffled out of the Hokage's building in his usual fashion. Hands shoved in his pockets, back bent over, and staring at the sky. 

The map Tsunade had given him was still clenched in his hand.

"So troublesome...Having to be with such an annoying guy..." he squeezed his knuckles and could hear the paper crinkle.

Ino, who came last out of the building, caught up with her lazy team-mate and began to keep pace walking beside him.  
Her sun bleached blond hair was up tied up in two short pig tails with one strand of hair hanging loosely from the side.

"Shikamaru, as much as I hate to say this," Ino turned her head in Shikamaru's direction, "I have to agree with you. This is troublesome."

"..."

Ino sighed, as usual he didn't reply.

She didn't expect a response from him anyway.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and continued walking.  
Ino tilted her head upward at the sky Shikamaru was staring at and frowned.

"Whatever, see you at the gate for the mission" She said flatly and stalked off.

When Shikamaru's heavy footsteps faded away behind her, Ino began to angrily mutter under her breath.

"_Its not like I want to be friends with him, but he could at least be a bit social, __we __**are **__team-mates."  
_  
Ino continued to walk aimlessly swearing at her teammate's indifference towards her until she realized that she had gone the totally opposite way of her house.

Ino spun around and quickly began to retrace her steps back to the Hokage building. A couple minutes after turning she heard a familiar voice.

"Ino-pig!"

Ino looked up and saw Sakura standing in front of a door with the name Haruno engraved in it,. The pink haired Kounichi wore an irritated; but concerned, expression on her face.

"What, forehead?" Ino shot back.

"It's just..." Sakura breathed. "It's just, I've never seen you so upset, well, since...he left."

Ino stopped walking and turned to face Sakura who was about 10 feet away from her.

Ino sighed.

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure, Ino?"

"Yeah."

Sakura's shoulders fell.  
Even though Sakura and Ino had bonded after Sasuke left, the wounds were still not fully healed. Ino waved farewell as Sakura entered her building. The blonde continued to make her way to her house and threw one last guilty glance at her best friends house.

"Whats happening to me...?" Ino whispered, staring down at her hands.

* * *

Hinata walked by herself home, she was really anxious about the upcoming mission.  
Her pointer finger's tapped each other nervously as she stumbled down the Konoha roads. 

She would be in a mission with Naruto! She couldn't believe it!

Hinata blushed and started to walk faster so nobody would see the red that spread rapidly across her face, there was no way to stop the blush when she thought of him.

She nimbly made her way to the Hyuuga's residence without stopping, and entered her room; only briefly waving to her little sister Hanabi before closing the door.

Silence.

Hinata slid down to her knees, her back still up against the door and breathed.  
A small wave of determination swept over her and vanished almost instantly afterwards.  
_  
"N..N-naruto-kun, I __**will **__get to understand-d-d you b-better...I want-t...to be able to h-h..help..."_  
She whispered with what little determination she had left, Hinata could feel her ears burning red from embarrassment.

No time to ponder over such things, she needed to pack.

Hinata stood up slowly and made her way to her bed, plopping down and pulling her backpack from under it. She began to pack as the time for the mission drew nearer.

* * *

Lee, already home by now; (He jumps the roofs, much more exercise that way.) Pulled out his extra big survival pack, and began to collect items for the upcoming mission. 

As he folded his extra jumpsuit and grabbed his pair of blue shoes, a thought occurred to him.

"We've never been to the Sand Country before! What an exciting adventure of youth! GAIII-SENSEI!"

Lee's eyes formed odd tears as he clutched thin air in his grasp. This was going to be a new 'youthful' experience for him and all of the other members of the mission.  
He paced his room, searching for any last minute items; a good ninja is always prepared!

Lee glanced at the clock on his bedside table, the numbers read '2:32pm'. About half an hour until the Shinobi would have to leave their home village and venture out into the wilderness.

He paused his searching when his eyes came across an old photo of his. It was a photo from a couple months ago when he had his life altering surgery.

Lee smiled.  
Here he is, ready to go on a mission again! And a mission with non other than Sakura herself!

"GAIIIIIIII-SENSEI!!" He burst, tears; once again, streaming down his face.

"I shall win my angels heart over and make you proud Sensei!"

He gathered the last of his things more excited than ever. Lee finished packing, stood straight up, and lifted the hefty pack onto his back.

The mission would soon begin, and even sooner head into disaster.

--End Chapter Two--

* * *

**End Note's:**

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. n-n

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE!  
The real action/fun starts in the next chapter...in which I do not know the title to XDD

Okay! Im off to write the 3rd Chapter--review what you like so I know what to put more of ;)  
Thanks again and again (endless thanking) for reading c:


	3. The Mission Begins!

**Author's Notes:  
**  
Here I am again!  
I made sure to make this chapter longer, its almost twice as long as the other chapters c:

Mmm, This chapter seems to be centered on InoxShika a bit...(Can you tell they are my favorite pairing?) XD  
Please Review if you read-- It helps me improve n-n

--Reg writing--  
--(Author's comments)--

I hope who ever reads this enjoys this as much as I enjoyed writing it :D

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Naruto owns me :0_

* * *

Shikamaru lay awake in his bed, staring at his ceiling.

'Ping! Ping! Ping!'

Shikamaru slowly averted his eye's to a clock sitting on his bedside table. He grumbled and sat up from his bed.  
At least he got a 20 minute nap before his new mission, Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head and slid off the bed.

"Troublesome missions..." He mumbled sleepily.

Only about half an hour ago Shikamaru and five of the other Shinobi were assigned a mission to deliver a package to the sand. Shikamaru yawned and took a piece of paper out of his pocket.  
It was a map to the Country of Sand.

He frowned, It couldn't have been a more complicated map. No wonder he was in charge of it, almost anyone else would not be able to make heads or tails of the thing! Shikamaru shoved it back from where it came; his front pocket.

He swung his survival pack (He packed when he came home) onto his back, opened the front door, and walked outside into the sunlight. Shikamaru squinted his eyes against the merciless sun and continued to make his way to the entrance gate of Konoha.  
As he walked he began to plan out the mission.

"So..." He muttered to himself "We have a week's worth of supplies each, and it takes 3 days to travel to the Country of Sand..."

He paused.

"When we arrive at the sand and complete our mission, they will refresh our supplies, and we will make it back to Konoha in another 3 days." Shikamaru studied his information, then said "So, in total, there are 6 days of traveling, and we have a week's worth of gear each way."

He nodded to himself, this made sense. If they were to be attacked and subdued, lets say, a couple days they would have enough food and water to survive.

Shikamaru peered ahead and saw the outline of 5 ninja standing readily at Konoha's gate.

"Good, everyone is here..." Shikamaru breathed. Now was the most important part of the mission, he would have to make sure everyone will make it safely there and back. This was his most vital priority at the moment.

Shikamaru shuffled to the gate and was greeted enthusiastically by Naruto.

"Ehhh? Shikamaru...? Late?" The blond ninja taunted, he was shifting his weight constantly in excitement.

"G-Good morning-g...S-shika-kun." Hinata stuttered after Naruto's statement.  
Ino nudged her aside and proceeded towards Shikamaru.

"Geez, Shikamaru" Ino complained loudly "you can at least TRY to make it here on time!" Her foot tapped impatiently on the ground. "Your almost as bad as that Kakashi"  
Shikamaru sighed and passed the other two ninja that didn't aggravate him this morning and began to make preparations.

"Okay, the mission is simple. Travel to the sand, deliver the package, and then return to Konoha."

"..."

"Only an IDIOT could mess this up" Shikamaru added.

Everyone in the group; except for Hinata and Lee, eyed Naruto apprehensively. Luckily Naruto was too excited to notice his teammate stares. (Poor Naruto, always picked on!)

"We will travel in groups of two to ensure that if we are followed that the package is harder to find." Shikamaru paused to take a breath "I will pair you up accordingly, matching up your abilities."

He lifted a lazy hand and pointed at Sakura.  
"Haruno Sakura, you are paired up with Rock Lee."

"W-What?!" She yelled in surprise.

"With your healing abilities and his speed, we can have you quickly transported to anyone in need." Shikamaru said bluntly.

Lee looked positively over joyed. Sakura hung her head in defeat.  
Naruto on the other hand, was wearing a glum expression and his shoulders were bent over.

"Uzimaki Naruto" Naruto perked up "you are with Hyuuga Hinata." Shikamaru said, nodding his head at the silver eyed Kounichi.

"Yatta! Isn't that great Hinata?" Naruto smiled and turned around to face Hinata.(He was secretly afraid that he'd get paired up with Ino -XD)

"H-huh?" Naruto placed his hands over his eyebrow's as if he was searching for something small; "Where did she go?"

Sakura pointed downward at the ground, and low and behold, lay Hinata blushing furiously and out cold.  
The pink haired ninja sighed.

"It must have been too much for her..." She muttered under her breath.

"Ah! Hinata! What are you doing down there?" Naruto asked.  
"N-nothing...just-t, er...nap-p-ping" She stuttered back lamely as she dusted her self off. Of course, naive Naruto believed her.

"Last but not least, Yamaki Ino, you are paired with me." Shikamaru finished, his expression showing no change.  
Ino felt her heart begin to beat faster, she held one hand over her chest as if to make it slow down. Ino glanced sideways, avoiding Shikamaru's gaze.  
"Whats wrong with me all of a sudden..?" The blond headed Kounichi whispered quietly to her self.

"We will travel as a group for 1 ½ days, and split into these pairs at noon." Shikamaru continued, not noticing Ino's strange behavior. "Before we part, Lee will memorize the route, and so will I. Then I'll hand the map over to Naruto, and the package will be with Ino and I."(Shikamaru knew Naruto would forget the instructions and that Hinata could help him make sense of the map.)

"Lets go already Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled impatiently, he was about 20 feet away from the gate with Hinata trailing meekly behind him. "C'mon! I'm not gonna wait forever for you guys!"

"Hai, Naruto-Kun!" Lee shouted, saluting Naruto, then sprinted until he was shoulder to shoulder with him. The three remaining ninja exchanged glances and slowly caught up the overly enthusiastic boys; and not-so enthusiastic girl, ahead.  
Ino chattered away with Sakura as Lee and Naruto exchanged training stories; Hinata shyly watched Naruto.  
Shikamaru walked staring at the clouds. The group was safe to goof off until they reached the forest, then they would have to get into battle formation for the trip in case of an surprise attack.

When they were about 10 feet away from the woods, Shikamaru stopped walking and seemed to study the clouds with more intent than before. He looked down from the sky and faced his teammates, who had also discontinued walking when Shikamaru halted.

"Okay. I want Naruto in front--" He pointed at Naruto and waved his finger at an imaginary spot in front him. "Then Ino behind him." He also pointed her in the correct direction. Shikamaru turned towards Lee, Sakura and Hinata and continued his speech "I will be behind Ino, then Sakura, followed by Lee with Hinata bringing up the rear."

Everyone lined up into their directed order and they began to make their way to the forest when Naruto stopped.  
Causing the whole line to topple like dominoes.

Ino fell over Naruto, Sakura tripped over Ino (Shikamaru intelligently side-stepped out of the line just in the nick of time) and Lee dived for Sakura.  
The only two left standing were Hinata and Shikamaru.  
"That troublesome Naruto..."

"N-naruto K-kun! A-...are y-you okay-y?!" Hinata yelped, as she tiptoed through the mess of bodies. Shikamaru walked past Hinata and made his way to the middle of the line.  
When Hinata reached the blond Ninja, He still had Ino laying across his back, he groaned.

"N-naruto-k-ku-n!"

Ino gained consciousness and lifted herself from Naruto, she rubbed her head and sat on her knees.

"Auuugh, Naruto baka!" Ino yelled, still inspecting bruises and scratches on her arms. As she was looking over her skinned knee's a hand was reached down to her level. (She was sitting after all.) She looked up at the owner of the hand and saw Shikamaru. His face was turned so his profile stood out in the sunlight.  
He had a slight blush on his cheeks, and his jaw seemed to be clenched tightly.

"Oi! Are you just going to stare at my hand, or use it?" Shikamaru said, clearly agitated. His eyebrow was twitching in all effort of being 'out of his way' nice.

Ino's eyes opened wide.

"Y-yeah..." She said, looking at the ground as she used his hand to get up, It was warm.

Further up the spilled line:

"Sakura-san! Are you injured?" Lee had caught Sakura in the last second, but she was blushing for some reason.

"N-no...but Lee..." She stuttered; in an almost Hinata way. "Yes Sakura-san?!" He asked worriedly.

"...Let go of me...NOW." Sakura demanded, her tone changed from surprised, to angry and embarrassed.

"?"  
Lee looked down at his hands, taken aback at her sudden change of mood.

He turned bright red and dropped Sakura almost immediately. His hand...where on a male would be near the heart, was on something considerably softer. He stood up and turned away from Sakura who was getting up from the ground.

Lee's face burned almost as red as when he opened the gates in battle.  
And thats quite red.

"I-m sorry...Sakura-san" Lee stated, still avoiding Sakura's eyes, he was too embarrassed to face her.

Sakura dusted herself off and with the last of her dignity, walked over to Ino as if nothing had happened. She was so "off" afterwards that she even forgot to be mad at Naruto for a moment!

Speaking of Naruto;

"N-naruto-kun-n, are you alright-t?" Hinata asked as Naruto got up off from the ground.  
"Yeah, Thanks for checking on me, Hinata!" He grinned, his smile reached from one ear to the other.

Hinata held her self stable on the nearest tree and nodded in response. Her face was as red as Lee's, and her legs threatened to give out at any given moment. Hinata breathed, "have to calm down..." She whispered.

"WHAT THE HELL NARUTO?!" Sakura yelled (She had finally recovered from shock- XD) across the group directing her anger at Naruto's back.  
Naruto winced and slowly turned around with a weak smile and nervous laugh, "Ah-a-ah, S-sakura-chan--" but before he finished his sentence; Naruto was sent flying at least 20 feet into the air. Sakura had cut in and punched him mercilessly in the stomach.

"Arrrh!" Naruto yelled as he landed and rolled another 5 feet afterwards. "Naruto-k-kun!" Hinata said, shocked and ran over to the newly damaged ninja.  
Sakura rubbed her knuckles and made her way to Naruto and Hinata, she had a question for him.

"Naruto-baka! Why the hell did you stop?!" She shouted, she was bent over so her face was inches from his. Her eye's flashed a dangerous green as if to say 'You better choose your words carefully'.

"Well, I was thinking.." Everyone gasped. "...why can't we just travel normally? Whats up with this whole 'order' and stuff?" Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders.

Shikamaru replied this time; one hand rubbing his temples, and sighed. Naruto can be so troublesome...

"Naruto." he turned a lazy finger upon the blond ninja. "You are one to attack without thinking, and you specialize in close combat. Keeping you in front will ensure that we get the first attack on the enemy." Shikamaru turned to Ino "Ino, you are behind him with your long range attacks that immobilize the enemy. I'm behind you to keep you standing, and if needed, I can use my Shadow jutsu on any side attacks."  
"Sakura is in the middle for protection, she is needed to heal us, so we can't afford her to get injured," He continued his speech with no excitement what-so-ever. "Then there is Lee in the back with equally strong close combat strength so we are not weak on the back end of the line." He shifted his eye's to Hinata "And Hinata can keep a lookout with her Byakugan on the rear so we are not attacked from behind."

Naruto stared at Shikamaru.

"..."

"I don't get it." Naruto said flatly.

Everyone fell over; _what an idiot!_

"AUGH, FORGET IT. LETS GO!" Ino yelled, and dragged Naruto to the front of the line by his collar.

"Inoooooo, your as cruel as Sakura-chaaaaan." Naruto whined, his feet dragging along the ground.

Ino let go of the blond and stomped back into her place in line.  
The six Shinobi faced the forest; everyone in their position, and began their real first step into the mission. Concentration rolled over Naruto, He became serious and lead the line with no other hesitation.

The mission officially began, right here, and right now. They had one day to travel together, then they would split up the next day at around noon.

The six stepped into the dimly lit forest.  
With Naruto as the "leader" who knows what will happen...?

--End Chapter 3--

* * *

**End Notes:**  
Hey, Thanks for reading c: 

PLEASE REVIEW!

If there is anything you like or dislike please include in your review n-n!


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